Ecovillage hopes to lead the way to green neighborhoods

Saturday

Nov 22, 2008 at 12:01 AMNov 22, 2008 at 10:21 PM

The members of Concord Ecovillage are striving to put a hi-tech spin on an old-fashioned neighborhood. They are planning a 33-home development on a 6.2 acre property in West Grove, Pa., but have designed the project as a state-of-the-art, environmentally friendly ecovillage.

Adam Zewe

The members of Concord Ecovillage are striving to put a hi-tech spin on an old-fashioned neighborhood.

They are planning a 33-home development on a 6.2 acre property in West Grove, Pa., but have designed the project as a state-of-the-art, environmentally friendly ecovillage.

An ecovillage is a neighborhood that encourages residents to have a stronger connection to the environment -- and their neighbors, said Anthony Aufdenkampe, an equity member of the village.

It’s an idea that hearkens back to neighborhoods 50 years ago when kids could play outside safely and homeowners didn't need to lock their doors, he said. It's also an idea that starkly contrasts modern developments.

Many modern developments proliferating in the era of suburban sprawl have massive houses with enormous yards that keep residents disconnected from their next-door neighbors, he said. The houses tend to be far too large to be environmentally friendly, and the neighborhoods are designed with cars in mind instead of pedestrians, Aufdenkampe said.

Concord Ecovillage will be the opposite.

The development proposes homes between 750- and 1,500-square-feet, he said, a far cry from today's 4,000-square-foot McMansion standard. The homes will be built closer together than in a typical development and will have small backyards.

Moreover, the homes will be built on a pedestrian street connected by walking paths to car ports outside the neighborhood. That puts the emphasis on pedestrian traffic and allows kids to play and neighbors to meet without dodging speeding cars.

Community will be at the heart of the ecovillage, he said, and the development will have a communal garden and a 4,000-square-foot club house for events.

But the clubhouse will also have guest rooms, a workshop and a gym, Aufdenkampe said, which allows residents to live in smaller homes because they will not need their own guest rooms, workshops or gyms.

Because of the communal elements, some people misunderstand the intent of an ecovillage, he said. Concord Ecovillage is not a commune, there is no income sharing and residents will live in private homes.

"There is no tie-dye," he said jokingly.

Each of the private homes will be unique, he said, because they will be smaller and more energy efficient than typical homes, helping the village achieve its goal of producing more energy than it consumes.

The homes will be hyperinsulated, with special emphasis put on plugging leaks in drafty corners so less heating will be necessary.

Heating and cooling will be provided by a geothermal heat pump, which taps into the natural heat provided by the earth. Electricity for lighting will be provided by solar panels on the roofs of houses and on top of the car ports.

The ecovillage will be hooked up to the power grid, but they should receive electricity rebates for supplying more power than they consume. That provides a major benefit for residents, Aufdenkampe said.

“They will have no electric bills,” he said.

The village will feature many other environmentally-friendly elements like restored wetlands, rain gardens and recycling centers.

The ecovillage developers are shooting for LEED-platinum certification because of all the “green” features, Aufdenkampe said. Platinum is the highest award available for an environmentally friendly design.

Living in a platinum-LEED certified community will make a big statement.

“With the housing market, there is no Prius. There is no way to say, ‘I want to walk my talk,’” he said. “The whole idea of this is to lead by example.”

But there are many challenges to designing an ecovillage.

One issue the designers have worked hard to overcome was creating an environmentally friendly neighborhood with houses that will sell for a competitive price, he said. The ecovillage homes range from $200,000 to $400,000 and keeping the homes small helped keep the prices down.

Another major issue the ecovillage will have to overcome is the laundry list of zoning violations it will cause.

The stormwater management system, solar panels, carports and building setbacks proposed in the development all violate West Grove zoning guidelines, Aufdenkampe said, but he is hopeful the ecovillage will receive variances because of the environmentally friendly nature of the project.

The group has eight equity members and is hoping to attract as many of the 33 homeowners as possible before construction begins in November 2009.

Equity members are required to put $2,000 down before they can participate in the planning process and must put another $2,000 down to select a property on the site, he said.

The more money homebuyers put down early on, the cheaper the project will be, he said, but getting people involved as early as possible also reinforces the ecovillage’s goal of creating a real community.